((OOC - Discussion tiems!))

[sharpestscalpel]

((OOC - So, this mirror game is an off-shoot of the very first online RP in which I've been involved. I've done a lot of table-top, some LARP, and some single-player computer-based RPG but using LJ this way kind of fascinates me. And I was thinking about that and thinking about the things that I love and the things that have been driving me crazy and I started to wonder:

What does your ideal online RP look like?

I'm posting this here because I'm interested in the thoughts of other players but also, if anyone wants to speak on it, the thoughts of readers. It's such an interesting performative way of playing and I'm pondering the back-end portion of it, the meta of it, the tendency of myself to forget that other people can read any of this, that sort of thing. Let's assume that all discussion is out of character - if, you know, there actually IS discussion and not just me rambling along in my little corner here.

To me, the best RP is a form of collaborative story telling. It becomes a tapestry of lots of different stories that all touch on and influence each other. I feel like there are some barriers to that in this format (LJ) - but that in other ways this format is ideal for games that result in a collaborative narrative.

And now we've started Twittering and I'm kind of in love with the idea of a game that works across social networking platforms. But the drawback is that then you have to put in the work to make it happen across social networking platforms and readers have a hard time following everything. I used to play a table-top game that involved a lot of websites and internets research, though, and it was phenomenally fascinating. I'm not sure where the trade-off is for that.

Anybody? Bueller?))

Comments

[rn-chapel.livejournal.com]

The conversation about how some DMs can foster a collaborative storytelling type environment with tabletop play combined with you saying that you put more work into developing stuff for this game than you have for other RPs is really interesting to me. In my tabletop games for the last couple years, I've been the DM, and that deeeefinitely required more set-up work and plotting and planning and developing from me than this game does, by a wide margin. BUT, that was what allowed my players to just jump in and go and create these zany branching storylines and so on. I love doing it, even though it's hugely time-consuming. Helping other people build narratives that make them happy and enjoy playing is about as much fun for me as building my own.

That I feel that way is part of why I've become the DM - the other people I've played with were much more rules-oriented, and when they're DMing, it becomes a hack-and-slash sort of campaign. Which is also loads of fun, don't get me wrong, but not really RP. So this game/these games kinda works for me as my player outlet. I get to focus really closely on the storylines of just a couple characters and how those influence and are informed by the larger story, instead of doing all the prep and facilitating, and every now and then running a reoccurring NPC as my only in-character outlet.

[sharpestscalpel.livejournal.com]

The work I put into developing story as a character here is, I think, reflective of the way we are all, to large extent, DMs here. It's really interesting to combine those roles this way.

Like, I still get the impression you put a lot of work into character development. And the girl!mission plot you ran was very well executed.